Rudimental, Naughty Boy & More: "Faceless" UK Super Producers

Georgie Okell

Host Blog

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Not so long ago, the world was bemoaning the slow decline of
the music video and all it had come to represent throughout our MTV-obsessed
youths. However, a new wave of almost faceless British producers is changing
that. While these artists receive worldwide acclaim for
their music, they manage as individuals to remain practically invisible behind
the vocalists they feature, and to an even greater extent, their music videos.

Recently I got to hang out with both Rudimental and Naughty
Boy and was fascinated by the way that, regardless of their music being all over
every radio station in the UK and increasingly over here right now (Naughty
Boy's "La La La" featuring Sam Smith is almost
inescapable), the songmakers themselves can still walk down the street with
barely anybody paying them any mind.

This canon of brilliant producers seem to be taking
advantage of that, and I don't just mean by going to the local supermarket in
the pajamas in broad daylight. There are visual implications and freedoms that
come with this facelessness, and Naughty Boy recently chose to make his entire
debut album, Hotel Cabana, an
"audio-visual experience," shooting several cinematic videos set around a
fictional hotel, including this one for "La La La" shot in Bolivia, which to
date has racked up an impressive 244 million views (whaaat?!)

Fun
fact: Naughty Boy started producing music seriously after winning £44,000 on a UK
television gameshow.

Rudimental's video for "Free" (featuring Emeli Sande) shows the most breathtaking
wingflying stunt ever seen in the world of music and will make you feel GREAT:

Plus, check out Rudimental's new video for "Powerless" featuring Becky Hill, another example of remaining faceless in their own videos.

And now a new UK duo are taking it even further. We featured
this video on Fuse News last week, but it was too good to not talk about again.
London producers We Are Shining teamed up with Eliza Doolittle to record "Killing," but the video features neither of them. Instead, It features London dancer Shanelle 'Tali' Fergus, a.k.a the bravest woman on the planet.

I won't tell you anymore than that. I'll let this video
speak for itself, but those of a nervous disposition should look away now.
Count yourself warned.